| Population coding of somatic sensations. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 22466120 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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The somatic sensory system includes a variety of sensory modalities, such as touch, pain, itch, and temperature sensitivity. The coding of these modalities appears to be best explained by the population-coding theory, which is composed of the following features. First, an individual somatic sensory afferent is connected with a specific neural circuit or network (for simplicity, a sensory-labeled line), whose isolated activation is sufficient to generate one specific sensation under normal conditions. Second, labeled lines are interconnected through local excitatory and inhibitory interneurons. As a result, activation of one labeled line could modulate, or provide gate control of, another labeled line. Third, most sensory fibers are polymodal, such that a given stimulus placed onto the skin often activates two or multiple sensory-labeled lines; crosstalk among them is needed to generate one dominant sensation. Fourth and under pathological conditions, a disruption of the antagonistic interaction among labeled lines could open normally masked neuronal pathways, and allow a given sensory stimulus to evoke a new sensation, such as pain evoked by innocuous mechanical or thermal stimuli and itch evoked by painful stimuli. As a result of this, some sensory fibers operate along distinct labeled lines under normal versus pathological conditions. Thus, a better understanding of the neural network underlying labeled line crosstalk may provide new strategies to treat chronic pain and itch. |
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Authors:
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Qiufu Ma |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Review |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Neuroscience bulletin Volume: 28 ISSN: 1995-8218 ISO Abbreviation: Neurosci Bull Publication Date: 2012 Apr |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2012-04-02 Completed Date: 2012-12-06 Revised Date: 2013-05-20 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 101256850 Medline TA: Neurosci Bull Country: China |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 91-9 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Qiufu_Ma@dfci.harvard.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Afferent Pathways
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physiopathology Animals Chronic Pain / physiopathology* Humans Nociceptors / physiology* Pruritus / physiopathology* |
| Grant Support | |
ID/Acronym/Agency:
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R01 DE018025/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS; R01 NS047710/NS/NINDS NIH HHS; R01DE018025/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS; R01NS047710/NS/NINDS NIH HHS |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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